Tonight I went out with Matt, Martina & Nicola for a pizza at Pizza Express where I had my favourite - Fiorentina
After that we went to see Night at the Museum at Cineworld on the recommendation of my sister.
It was brilliant, l was laughing all the way through it and I wasn't the only one.
Favourite Quote: Little plastic cowboy replies to little plastic roman general ''I won't quit you" when told to save himself.
Categories: Personal_
Following on from my early post http://captain-hooks-notes.blogspot.com/2007/01/cycling-court-case.html here.
Daniel's appeal has been heard by Judge R W Onions at Shrewsbury Crown Court and the ruling is "No Case To Answer", the conviction and sentence having been overturned. Of course there is not case to anwser, the original conviction basically said Daniel should not be cycling on a Public Highway.
At last, some sense from the whole system. At first we couldn't believe the police would even send the case to the CPS, then we couldn't believe the CPS actually went ahead with the case and finally the Judge (you know, the one who is supposed to really understand the law and ensure a fair trial) actually convicted Daniel.
Daniel has lived with this sentence over his head for 7 months, I know he and his family have been under a great deal of stress because of it.
Categories: Cycling_ Personal_
Last year, a forum friend of mine was stopped by the police because he was cycling on the road, there have been a couple of versions of the story going around but my understanding from Daniel is that the police pulled him over because he wasn't cycling left of the white line which marks the edge of the road. Now according to the highway code, it's illegal to travel left of that line except in an emergency, in other words the police were telling him to do something illegal.
Daniel, maybe foolishly, wrote a letter to the station these officers were based at to report the incidence and asking why he was stopped for doing exactly what the Highway Code says he had to do. This started a series of events which culminated in Daniel being prosecuted for inconsiderate cycling because although what the police had said at the side of the road was illegal, by the time it got to court the police had told him he should have used a cycle path which to reach required crossing 3 lanes of traffic.
The judge agreed that while he behaviour on the road was within in the law, by choosing to cycle on the road when there was a cycle path available was inconsiderate of the drivers. The road in question was only about 1/2 mile long, between two roundabouts and Daniel was travelling over 30 mph since he was cycling down hill. The judge pretty much ignored the expert witness testimony from John Franklin, the government adviser for cycling in the UK, who said that Daniel did everything correctly.
John Franklin explained how the cycle path was more dangerous for Daniel to reach than the road, more dangerous to use than the road for Daniel and less convenient since he would have to cross 3 lanes of traffic twice (once to join the cycle path and once to get off it in 1/2 a mile where the cycle path ends at the next roundabout).
This outcome was completely unexpected, unbelievable and cyclist the country over immediately donated money to the cyclist defence fund for the appeal. A total of £25,000 has been raised. In addition, The police force in Telford (West Mercia I believe) were inundated with requests from Cyclist for a map on which public roads they are now not allowed to cycle on to avoid prosecution should they ever visit Telford.
Personally I believe those letter writing campaigns only alienate the cyclists from the police but it did effectively show the can of worms that the case open; a cyclist, a rambler, a horse ride, a tractor driver - anyone who can not move at 60 mph could be done with inconsiderate riding/driving if there is an alternative route regardless if the alternate route increases the danger or is less convenient for that user.
The Judge in charge of this case has got a reputation of controversial decisions when on May 19th he decided PC Mark Milton, an advanced police drive had done nothing wrong when he drove his unmarked police car at 159mph on a motorway and 60mph through a 30mph zone - the charge against PC Mark Milton was brought by his own employers after reviewing the onboard video footage from the police car. The decisions was overturned by a different judge at an appeal.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/England/shropshire/4559173.stm
Today is the date for the Appeal, Daniel is scheduled to appear in court at 11:00 at Shrewsbury Crown Court - Good Luck Daniel
My Del.icio.us Tag for DanielCadden
Categories: Personal_ Cycling_
I've just got back from the cinema with Matt and Martina where we watched The Last King of Scotland.
It was a very good film about Dr Nicholas Garrigan who was a doctor visiting Uganda and after a chance meeting ends up as Idi Amin personal doctor.
Through Dr Garrigan's eyes we see the regime go from the hope of a stable peaceful country to an Internationally condemned genocide state.
A bit of a surprise appearance by Gillian Anderson with a small role who managed a very convincing English accent, a guess those recent years in West End Theaters really paid off.
Categories: Personal_
The ride into work this morning was Snowy and Icy. This is the first time I have ridden in these conditions and I was a little bit scared but it turns out that all the main roads were completely clear of anything slippery which just left my own road and the road leading up to work which needed to be driven over very carefully.
On the way in, I didn't overtake a single car even though the roads were clear enough just in case there might be some ice around. I also made sure I had a jumper on under my coat and a scarf on but when I reached work I realised that I had forgotten my wooly hat and gloves so if I do breakdown or come off it could be a very cold wait for rescue.
I think tonight might be a tougher journey because we are forecast more snow and the roads should be very slushy by then.
Categories: Personal_ Biking_
I've just finished reading my favourite blog - Postsecret.
I have to say that it is becoming a bit darker in the last few month's and I'm surprised at the secrets people are prepared to reveal, even anonymously.
The idea is people make a postcard which shows their secret which they then post to an address in the US.
If you are interested you can find the blog at http://postsecret.blogspot.com but I really recommend not viewing at work, or at least be discreet because the pictures can be quite graphic sometimes.
Categories: Personal_
Today was the PYW ramble from Manton and it was a huge turn out. I guess there were a lot of New Year Resolutions being fulfilled.
The weather was sunny but very cold in the wind.
Since there were so many people walking I elected to be the back marker to make sure no-one was left behind, it also gave me a bit of privacy incase mum phoned with news about grandad.
At end, we all stopped at the Horse and Jockey for drinks and some food.
A very nice walk with some great views.
Categories: Walking_
Last night I went The Cuckoo in Alwalton for the ramblers walk planning meeting, I am going to be leading a walk from Curbar in the Peak District on the 2nd September.
Because Curbar is such a long way away I have suggested that I go up on the saturday and camp over night in the area an maybe do a short walk on the first day and the official walk on the Sunday.
Categories: Personal_
Last night I went into Cambridge for a pub crawl to celebrate Nicola's birthday.
We started off in All-bar-one with a couple of drinks and a meal before moving on to The Eagle which has a great beer garden considering it's stuck in the middle of a city. And that is as far as we got, we just stayed there until 11 when we all started heading home.
Actually I prefer not constantly moving from pub to pub because then you never get a table so I was more than happy at the lack of crawling involved.
It was me, Matt, Martina, Nicola to start with then tom showed up who apparently started working at Citrix 2 weeks before I left, although I don't remember him.
Thinking about it since he worked at Citrix before I left he may have put some money in towards my leaving pressie in which case thanks tom.
Later still Andy turned up, it was great to see him again, he had just been to a fisbee game which reminds me of quote from a movie whose name I forget: "remember , if a dog can play it, it's not a sport" - just kidding Andy.
Another great thing about Andy showing up was that he becomes the butt of all jokes, not me, Andy should come out more often ;-)
Martina has read my Pen-y-ghent entry on this blog and asked me at one of the pubs if that really happened! It's like people just don't get my sense of humour sometimes.
On one of the walks over the new year I made up a story about Attack Snails for diane, a dangerous species of snail which hunts down ramblers who stop for too long for lunch, maybe I should have made the story on pen-y-ghent about them instead to make it clear that it wasn't real :-)
Categories: Personal_
This mornings commute into work was a very windy journey with flooded sections of road and the all the rivers I cross on my way to work were flooded.
I was being blown one way, then the other. The bike was twisting and turning under me, I felt like a twig which had been cast into a river by a kid for some idle entertainment in a game of pooh sticks.
At one point I did find myself wondering whether it was going to be the helmet strap or my neck which was going to break, but I wasn't really worried until I noticed that some of the trucks I was passing were leaning over at a similar angle to me.
Categories: Personal_
Last night I went to Cambridge for a meal with Matt, Martina and Nicola as a post christmas get together. There was much laughing and micky taking, mainly with me being the butt of the jokes :-(
We went to Zizzi which is an italian in Cambridge and it was very good food. I'm going to have to go back there, I had Penna - al - Pineta which was basically pasta with pine nuts in it.
Afterwards, we went The Fountain Inn for some drinks before heading home.
Categories: Personal_
Note: Once again, the swear words have been replaced with ? to protect the innocent.
Following on from T-Mobile Direct Debit Once Again
? T-Mobile, I've just been onto the T-Mobile website to pay the bill. Only I can't pay because of the incompentence of the T-Mobile website designers, how do a company which is supposedly in a technology sector just completely ? up this stuff at every turn? (that one is actually a question mark not a swear word)
If you pay on the website with a credit card, the site remembers the details so you don't have to reenter the numbers again, great, that saves users about 45 seconds everytime they have to pay.
Only trouble is, my credit card has been reissued and so some of the details card details have changed. But there is no way to tell that ? website that the details are no longer valid which means that everytime I click on the approve button, they are submitting my current card number, my old expiry date and my current security code. ? unbelievable.
So I phone customer services and get put into a queue for 10 minutes - honestly, it's like they don't want to take my money or something.
And yet, if I were to collect my payment together in 2p pieces, go to their headoffice and kill everyone I see by battering them to death with an excessive weight of copper, it would be me that would be judged as wrong - the world is topsey turvey I tell ya.
Categories: Plasmon_
NOTE: This post has been edit after writing to remove the profanity that flowed from my innocent fingers all by themselves.
After submitting my direct debit mandiate to T-Mobile last month which followed about 6 months of trying to get a mandate sent to me to fill in, I felt sure the direct debit was setup and I wouldn't have to log in to the website and be charged extra for paying by credit card.
The ? just phoned demanding the payment because it's over due again. It's a ? good job that I don't care about my credit rating because that ? company must be destorying it with all those late payments. ? ? ?
I almost felt sorry for the poor ? call center worker who got a bit of an earful, then I remembered the ? worked for ? T-Mobile and now I just figure that he deserved it.
Categories: Plasmon_
Left Langcliffe Car park. The weather is very poor with rain, strong wind and once I had climbed a bit and got into the cloud layer visibility drops to about 20 meters.
I cant see any landmarks so I am navigating by map and compass only.
As I reached the top of the first hill I heard a dog howling, as if he had caught the scent of something. There is something about that howl which makes my blood run cold but he dog must be a couple of miles away so I don't worry about it.
03 January 2007 09:13
Reached Stainforth, the weather clears slightly allowing one to navigate with landmarks, this increases my speed dramatically.
03 January 2007 10:10
First Sighting of Pen-y-Ghent, I cant see the top because it is covered in cloud. The fog is increasing but I can still make out landmarks.
I think something might be following me but I can't catch sight of it.
03 January 2007 10:39
Reached Churn Milk Hole.
The fog has lifted a little. I am definitely being stalked by a dog like creature. It is running parallel to my path about 1000 meters out. I can not get a clear view of the animal from here as it is keeping to the far side of walls and hedgerows.
Churn Milk Hole marks the start of the ascent to the top of Pen-y-Ghent.
There is less cover up here and the animal is definitely following me and has started coming closer, it has a deep barrelled chest and short powerful looking jaws. It's legs appear to be too long and gangly to belong to the rest of the animal, almost like it it is a fusion of two completely separate animals.
I have picked up some rocks which I will throw at the animal if it comes any closer.
As I reach the base of the mount, the ground raises steeply, the wind has increased and the visibility is down to about 20 meters again.
03 January 2007 10:50
The final climb to the top, the wind is deafening me, the cloud is all around blinding me.
There is no sign of the creature.
I climb for another 5 minutes but I need to stop for a quick the rest, the path is made up of loose rock climbing at about 45 degrees, it's very hard going.
I turn to see if the cloud has lifted enough to offer me a view of the that I was in 30 minutes ago. Not more than 10 meters away the creature had closed the gap and looked to be ready itself for an attack.
I throw the rocks which I still hold in my hands but nearly all miss their target, the creature unbalanced by my actions slides down the scree slope 5 meters before starting to climb back towards me.
It does not move like any animal I have seen before. It tries to climb the scree slope on it hind legs but keeps toppling forward. I can see now that the dog is covered is long shaggy grey hair along the top, sides and outsides of it legs but that the belly and the inside of its legs are are hairless.
It has green eyes and short strong longing teeth. For all it's ferocious appearance, the animal looks half starved, I can see it's ribs even through the thick fur covering it's sides.
I turn to run further up the scree slope hoping that it's ungainliness will be all the advantage I need.
A sharp pain runs up my left arm and I turn to see the creature has bitten into my arm and is trying to dragged off my feet and down the scree slope.
A feeling of rage overtakes me, I reach put with my right hand which by chance finds a heavy rock which I swing over my head and bring down on top of the creatures head, it releases my arm but more out of shock at being hit rather than any injury I think I might have caused.
I straight up to my full height and stay the animal in the eyes, bearing my teeth and growling, acting on pure instinct although where this instinct comes from I could not say.
The creature stares back for 30 seconds or more before before turning and fleeing down the slope as fast as it can.
I turn the other way and climb the remaining hill as fast as possible.
03 January 2007 11:11
I have reached the summit of Pen-y-Ghent.
I do not want to stop incase the creature returns but I'm so hungry that I have no choice. I shelter besides the wall near to the trig point at the top of pen-y-ghent eating as quickly and quietly as possible, my ear straining of any noise the creature might give to betray its presence.
No sound is heard.
I decide to head to horton which is the nearest village to my current location.
On the way down I find some clothes which had been torn apart, on closer examination, I find a bite mark which must have gone into the leg of who ever was bitten because the trouser leg is covered in blood.
Although the clothes are torn apart, the only wound seems to have been the leg, I don't know why the owner of the clothes would have torn off his own clothes which appears to be what happened.
03 January 2007 12:45
Reached Horton in Ribblesdale.
There has been no sign of the creature for over an hour, I can only assume that it has given up.
03 January 2007 13:37
Reached Helwith Bridge.
On my way here some strange happened, I heard some noises in the brush off to one side, fearful of another attack my eye instantly lock onto the source of the sound, but there must have been some mistake because the spot I was looking at was over 100 meters away and the sound had seemed much closer
I just found a set of bathroom scales in the the bathroom of my holiday cottage. Why a holiday home needs scales I haven't worked out yet.
It's been about 5 years since I last weighed myself so I gave it a try.
9st 4lb ? There is no weigh (pun intended) that I weigh that little. I think my bones must be filled with Hydrogen.
When the Oil runs out and the world switches over to Hydrogen in going to be very very rich.
Categories: Personal_
Today I have brought a Tent from Cotswold in Harrogate for £160
Categories: Personal_
Today I went to York to look around the shops and York Minster. The cathedral is very impressive.
I then went to Hull to see the Deep, a Ocean Aquarium. That was very good. The main tank had sharks and rays and all sorts of other fishes whose name I have now forgotten.
Personally I would have preferred there to be more tanks and less interactive TV's trying to teach me stuff but I suppose the aquarium is designed for people - a bit younger than me.
Categories: Personal_
Happy New Year Everyone.
Last night I went to the Blues Cafe Bar in Harrogate with the Ramblers to celebrate New Years.
The tickets were brought in advance and included Egyptian which was very nice.
Unfortunately I got so bored that I left after an hour or so and came home.
That's not a reflection on the people I went with, the problem is I can't hear people taking when in noisy places and this bar was very small and far too crowded and with the band playing I was effectively excluded from any conversations the moment we walked through the doors. Smoke free would have been nice as well.
I got back to the bike about half past ten in the middle of a gale and made my way home very slowly and carefully.
As I said, food was good. I might have to see if I can get some recipes.
Categories: Personal_
